166 THE HACKING INTO AUKOUMA'S SERVERS
"Both corporations specialize in human-evolution dicine," Kassely explained. "They wouldn't normally need it—unless it's for a classified project. The Heart of Ra isn't impossibly rare, but it only appears once or twice a year."
Kail's eyes glazed again. "I've breached their servers through the trace," he said. "There's a classified project called Scourge. But I can't access it from here. I'd need to be inside their facility to do that."
"No," Dan said sharply. "That's too dangerous. Forget it."
Zairgid ran a hand through his hair. "But what if they break through our last firewall? If they get the final file, they'll know everything. They might even co after us to steal the Heart of Ra."
Dan said nothing.
The thought had already crossed his mind — and it was a very real possibility.
They were new to Silver City. They had no allies here. They might not be able to deal with these corporate bullies.
Then Liorea smirked. "So, what if they do find out? Let them discover that the final bidder was you, Zairgid Aukouma."
Zairgid blinked. "They'll find out about ? That's not bad enough! I couldn't leave my office without being afraid of being robbed. How can I go to the clubs to party?"
"Not if you spin it right," Liorea said.
"Auction houses often inflate prices by placing their own bids. If they think you raised the price artificially and failed to sell, they'll lose interest," she added.
Zairgid frowned. "We don't do that sort of thing."
"Then you'll do it now," Liorea said coldly. "Make them believe the Heart of Ra was never sold. It stayed with you, waiting to be auctioned again later."
"You want to accuse him of rigging the auction?" Kail asked.
Zairgid's eyes widened … then he nodded slowly. "That could work. Kassely, create a fake entry in the inventory. Make it look like the Heart of Ra was bought back."
"What do you an sir?" she asked.
"Make it appear the purchaser has returned the Heart of Ra to us
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